What is a Point Of Sale (POS) System and why do you need it?

If you operate a restaurant or a café, a POS system is something that can make your life much easier by reducing paperwork and tracking inventory. These systems are designed to save your time on entering customer and orders data, purchases and overall managing business. A POS system is much more than a simple cash register: it can handle transactions beyond cash and credit card sales.

So what is the main difference between POS systems and cash registers?

Well, many of POS machines indeed look like traditional cash machines, but can perform more elaborate functions connected with discounts, special offers or loyalty programmes. Outdated cash registers may still be used in small retail companies, but their abilities are extremely limiting. And that is especially true when it comes to HoReCa channel.

The right POS system is able to drastically improve the performance of a restaurant. Even the most sceptical owners will feel the difference. Depending on the size and the needs of your business, POS machines can perform sales analysis, inventory tracking, etc.

A point of sale system might seem expensive compared to a cash machine, however, you need to take into account that in most cases installation and setup costs are already included in the price. If you are looking for the prices, you can always check the quotations on Thunderquote website. The companies providing POS machines also usually teach you how to use it and may provide training to the personnel.

There is a great variety of companies providing POS systems, probably as many as there are types of restaurants. And, of course, it’s highly crucial to choose the right system according to the needs of your business. It goes without saying that different types and sizes of restaurants or restaurant chains have different software and hardware needs, so what you can start with is simply matching the business type that you are running with the system that would be most productive for your business.

If you don’t know what kind of POS machine you need, you can simply describe the type of business you run and request for services and prices here. With the help of the professionals you will be able to find a perfect-matching POS.

Without digging into too much details, cafes and restaurants can be broken down into 2 main categories, namely, the Quick Service (QSR) and Full Service Restaurants (FSR). Most of POS systems follow the same terms, so it makes sense to read more about the topic if you can’t classify your restaurant.

As nowadays the technology is changing together with industry standards, you might also need to make equipment upgrades. That’s where point of sale system can help you save you money – instead of replacing old cash machines, you can just update your POS machine at much lower cost.

As any software and hardware, POS systems are changing over the time, influenced by mobile penetration and booming consumer-facing technologies. Here are two trends to follow:

Consumer-facing technologies. Dining experience nowadays is different from what it was even 10 years ago. Clients want to checkout faster with the payment options that they are more convenient to them. In the age of multi-screening it may be useful to place iPads with games and internet connection on the tables, so that if food preparation takes more time than expected, they won’t get frustrated and will be able entertain themselves.

Virtual waiters. Such devices as iPad can also partly substitute waiters. Visitors can independently place meal orders, entertain themselves and pay bills from these devices. It would not only keep them entertained, but can also cut your personnel costs.

To sum up, the right restaurant point of sale system may ease your life and save a lot of precious time. And when the initial cost of POS system might seem relatively expensive comparing to cash registers, investments can worth a fortune.

ThunderQuote is the most comprehensive business services portal in Singapore, Australia and ASEAN , where hundreds of thousands of dollars of procurement contracts are sourced every month by major companies like Singapore Press Holdings, National Trade Union Congress and more.